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“…” Calmstep swayed the sharp sword in his hand and could not help but smile. “Endless Sea, I’ve heard of you. A lone player who made quite a name for himself in Glazed Lycoris Radiata, and just a few days ago, you even won a death match against FleetingDream.”

“How about this? If you’re willing to apologize to Leafy, and then bring your people to join Cloud Edge, I can pretend none of this ever happened.”

“Impossible.” Endless Sea shook his head without hesitation. “They’re just my companions, not subordinates. Besides, we have no intention of joining any guild.”

“Is that so… Then there’s nothing left to talk about.” Calmstep waved his hand and signaled, “Send them back to town. Let everyone know that not just anyone can ride over Cloud Edge’s head.”

As his words fell, everyone began pressing forward.

“I say, are you really that sure you can kill us?”

Calmstep halted his steps. “What trick are you trying to pull?”

“Oh, nothing much. It’s just that I personally prefer cute, shy girls, around 1.85 meters tall, living on Earth, aspiring to become astronauts, with grandparents who—”

‘What kind of nonsense is that?’ The members of Cloud Edge were completely dumbfounded. ‘Has this guy lost his mind?’

Calmstep’s lips twitched. ‘What the hell’s wrong with this guy?’

Suddenly, faint blue light flickered across Endless Sea’s body. At the same time, another player named Nangong Fort was glowing in the same way.

At a moment like this, if he still did not realize what was happening, he would not deserve to be vice guild leader. “They’re trying to enter the dungeon! Ranged attackers, strike first and pin them down! Hurry!!”

In the next instant, the ranged classes snapped to their senses and hurled their skills forward in a flurry. But they were still half a beat too slow. By the time the attacks landed, there was no one left. They had already entered the dungeon!

Calmstep’s face darkened as he stood there in silence. No one else dared to even breathe loudly.

***

Carrying the heavily injured female assassin on his back, Zane moved along the narrow path. The sticky trail of blood constantly reminded him that at any moment, she might die.

This was not a game. Starry had no HP potions on her, only some simple medicinal powder meant to be applied to the skin.

Following what he vaguely remembered from before, he smeared the powder over her wounds as best as he could, then tore off part of his own outer garment and wrapped it around her in a crude bandage. Whether it would help or not, he had no idea.

At the very least, the bleeding had slowed.

‘Damn it… I never thought I would end up crippling a complete stranger like this.’

In that earlier situation, he had reacted purely on instinct, activating his skills as if he were still inside a game, and this was the result.

No matter what, this was a living, breathing person. There was no way Zane could just stand by and do nothing.

“Miss, hang in there. If you die, I’m seriously not going to be able to live with myself,” Zane muttered under his breath.

“You… cough… cough… why…” the woman on his back spoke weakly.

“Hey, hey, stop talking! If you keep forcing yourself, you’re going to die even faster!”

“I was just… cough cough… taking money… to do a job… you don’t… cough—” A mouthful of blood spilled out onto the ground beside them.

‘Seriously, are you trying to burn through the rest of your life? Please, just stop talking.’ Zane immediately came to a halt and gently lowered her to the ground.

The woman looked as if she had been released from all burdens, watching as Zane walked farther and farther away. ‘So this is how it ends… Froststar is not someone a small fry like me could deal with…’ Even her thoughts began to slow and blur.

Suddenly, something damp appeared in her line of sight, a strip of wet cloth, or rather, a torn piece of fabric soaked with moisture.

**Rustle…**

A cool, soft sensation brushed against her lips.

“Given the circumstances, I can only tear some cloth to use. Hope she doesn’t mind.”

Not understanding Froststar’s intention at all, the little assassin could only watch as the blood on her lips was carefully wiped clean.

“Can you still hold on?” Her eyes were filled with confusion. What was Froststar talking about?

“Forget it…” Zane carefully wiped away the remaining blood at the corners of her mouth.

‘So gentle…’ The woman felt a faint stir in her heart. From childhood until now, no one had ever treated her with such patience and tenderness.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, “Mmm—mmph!!” The person in front of her suddenly stuffed the other end of the cloth straight into her mouth!

“Mm, that should keep you from talking.” Zane nodded, looking thoroughly satisfied.

***

“How is it? Did you all make it in?” The moment they entered the dungeon, before even taking in his surroundings, Endless Sea spoke through the party’s dedicated channel.

“Yeah, we all got in. That was way too close… that fireball almost hit me…” Nangong said, still shaken.

“As long as everyone’s in, that’s what matters…”

That’s right. While Endless Sea had been spouting nonsense earlier, he had actually been checking the dungeon details the entire time. All three difficulty levels had player limits, with a maximum of six people per team.

Which meant they had to split into two groups on the fly. While stalling for time, he had typed instructions in the party chat, telling Nangong to form another group.

Normally, dungeons were independent spaces. Once inside, there was no need to worry about being attacked by outsiders, making them a kind of temporary safe zone. And if his guess was correct…

He opened the system menu. Seeing that the logout option was still available, he let out a breath of relief. “We can log out.”

“Ah, really?!” DumbCitrus exclaimed excitedly, then added, “Can I log out now? It’s time for dinner.”
“Yeah, it should be fine. Logging out inside an instance shouldn’t cause any issues.”
“Then… I’ll log out too,” Snowy said hesitantly.
“So we’re all logging out? By the way, this dungeon doesn’t have a time limit, right?” Shiu asked.

“Not sure. There’s no indication. Maybe it’s trigger-based,” Endless Sea replied. “Anyway, they’re still camping outside. Let’s log out and eat first. I don’t believe they’ll keep guarding this place after the dungeon is opened.”

After all, so far in Dreamscape, this was the only dungeon anyone had heard of. Players from other cities might already be rushing over. When that happened, it wouldn’t be Cloud Edge calling the shots anymore.

***

“Zina, let’s stop here for today. I’ve got something to take care of,” Zane said as he put down his bowl.

“Is it something in the game?”

“Yeah.”

“Then… let’s head back.” She had already lost any mood to continue shopping. Half an hour later, the siblings returned home, carrying several bags of women’s clothing. Zina’s expression was complicated. “I’m going to my room.”

“Alright. Get some rest early.”

She did not respond.

Zane returned to his own room as well and picked up the game helmet. As he logged in, he reflected on everything that had happened throughout the day.

When he woke up, the original consciousness of this body had already vanished, likely having fallen into a coma for some unknown reason. And those butterflies were most likely the culprits.

Of course, Treka was also involved to some extent. It was just… that entity known as the Bloodthirsty Shadow was also searching for Treka. What would happen if the two encountered each other?

Come to think of it, Starry had originally intended to track her down, but for some reason, she had logged out inexplicably and had even forgotten about the matter for a while.

It was only after seeing others discussing Dreamscape earlier that she remembered again.

**Whoosh!**

The darkness faded, and light poured down onto Starry. She looked around. Everything was just as it had been before, aside from a few respawned monsters. Only… it felt like something was missing.¹